The situation on the front line
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Russian military concentrated its main efforts on attempts to completely capture the Donetsk region within the administrative border. Offensive operations are underway in the Bakhmut and Liman directions.
In the Donetsk direction, the Russian military fired at a village called New York. The name New York is considered historical – the village bore it until October 1951, under this name it is mentioned in Viktor Nekrasov's drama "In the Hometown". In 1951, it was renamed Novgorodskoye due to worsened relations with the United States as a result of the Cold War. In July 2021, it was decided to return the historical name.
Also, the RF Armed Forces are trying to improve the tactical situation in the Kupyansk and Avdeevsky directions. On the Novopavlovsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson directions, the Russian military is on the defensive. At the northern border of Ukraine – no changes. “At the same time, the occupiers are shelling the positions of our troops and civilian objects along the entire line of collision,” the ministry said.
The Russian Armed Forces are slowly strengthening their positions in the area between Bakhmut and Soledar, writes military analyst Def Mon. Actual progress there is unclear at the moment.
Now the RF Armed Forces are trying to advance and gain control of the high ground between Bakhmut and Soledar. If they gain control of the high ground, they will have an overview of some of the road links between Soledar and Bakhmut. However, these will also be very exposed positions, so gaining control of Podgorodny, Krasnaya Gora, and the high ground in between will be a priority.
According to pro-Russian Telegram channels, the Russian command sent the Airborne Forces to the Soledar area. “I think this is an indication that the RF Armed Forces are serious about attempting to encircle Soledar in the near future,” writes Def Mon. South of Bakhmut, the Armed Forces of Ukraine repelled attacks in the area of Kurdyumovka, Majorsk and Severny. To the north of Bakhmut, the Armed Forces of Ukraine repelled attacks in the area of Belogorovka, Soledar, Krasnaya Gora, Vyemka and Podgorodny.
A video has also been released showing a Ukrainian military using its drone to correct artillery fire, which then hits a Russian military position on the outskirts of Bakhmut. There is evidence that Wagner PMC mercenaries were in the affected mattress factory. Video and photo published by Francis Farrell, reporter for Kyiv Independent.
Kremennaya-Svatovo line. The Armed Forces of Ukraine repulsed the attack in the Kupyansk region, writes Def Mon. According to the pro-Russian channel Rybar, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are attacking Russian positions near Kuzemovka at night.
Donetsk . The Armed Forces of Ukraine repelled attacks in the area of Vodyanoye, Krasnogorovka, Veseloye, Marinka and Pobeda. However, there are no signs of real progress on both sides.
Shelling in the Crimea
In the village of Nizhnegorskoye in the north-east of Crimea, air defense was working, a video of the shelling was published by military analyst Yigal Levin, as well as RBC-Ukraine, citing local Telegram channels. Pro-Russian channels reported that an air battle was taking place in the sky above the settlement, during which the air defense system allegedly shot down drones filled with explosives.
Arms supplies
Germany will give Ukraine a new package of military assistance, which includes drone detection and jamming systems, reconnaissance UAVs, trucks, recovery vehicles, and a tank tractor. The following will also be donated: an ambulance, trailers, 7 remote-controlled tracked vehicles, 7 armored vehicles, 63 pickup trucks, including 20 with APKWS launchers installed on them, 36.4 thousand woolen blankets, generators and heating systems. The Ukrainian edition of Liga.net writes about this.
The French Ministry of Defense will give Kiev "light tanks" AMX-10 RC with a 105-millimeter cannon and two machine guns. It is primarily intended for reconnaissance missions and has sufficient armor to protect against light infantry weapons, according to the French Ministry of Defense. They have wheels rather than tracks, making them more mobile than heavy tanks.
The pro-Russian Telegram channel Rybar reports that on January 5, in the Romanian city of Bacau, a train with Turkish 4×4 Kirpi armored personnel carriers passed in the direction of Ukraine – up to 50 pieces. Their delivery was expected from August 2022 – then the deputy of the Servant of the People party Yuri Mysyagin said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine received 50 Kirpi armored personnel carriers, and another 150 will be transferred during 2023.
Also, the United States is looking for the possibility of removing Cold War ammunition from storage, bringing it to the required level and transferring it to Ukraine due to the depletion of NATO arsenals and the shortage of ammunition in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Now such a program is valid for anti-aircraft missiles of the Hawk complex. Also, the States, as part of a new $3 billion military aid package, will transfer about 50 M2A2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine.
According to Bloomberg, Germany is close to the decision to supply Ukraine with infantry fighting vehicles. According to the publication, the German government is negotiating with the allies on a joint statement, one of the options for which would be the delivery of several dozen Marder BMP units in storage.
In addition, Germany will supply Ukraine with Marder armored personnel carriers and Patriot air defense systems, in addition to a similar supply from the United States. This was announced by the official representative of the German government, Steffen Hebestreit.
Russia has changed military reports, now there are only victories and captures of villages
The Russian Defense Ministry has changed the format of its daily reports on the situation at the front, experts from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) write . Now reports are focused on small towns, and information about strikes in them is grouped by type of target, and not by location, which makes geographic orientation and data verification difficult. The Russian Defense Ministry also devoted several posts on its Telegram channel to a story about the new Admiral Gorshkov missile carrier, which most likely will not conduct operations to support Russian operations in Ukraine.
According to ISW experts, this is done in order to flood the information space with reports of minor successes and divert attention from significant military failures.
Putin Demands Christmas "Truce"
“Instructions” appeared on the Kremlin’s website, in which Putin instructs Sergei Shoigu to introduce a ceasefire along the entire line of contact between the parties in Ukraine from 12:00 Moscow time on January 6 to 24:00 on January 7. Earlier, Patriarch Kirill and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked him about this.
In response, Kyiv stated that it would not conclude any agreements with Russia, and therefore there would be no "truce", even temporary.
"You have a shitty connection, Citizen Sladkov." Blogger Murz scolds propagandist
An employee of the armed forces of the "LPR", blogger Andrey Morozov replied to the employee of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Alexander Sladkov, the author of the Z-channel "Sladkov +". The latter wrote a post about what wonderful weapons Russia has and how much more advanced it is than NATO and Ukraine. In the publication, he made a small clarification that, nevertheless, the Russian army has a small problem with communications at the forefront. “There are unfortunate shortcomings. For example, we do not have a very good communication system. Especially on the front lines. The lack of reliable and easy-to-operate stations leads to the fact that we are late in timely guidance of aviation and artillery adjustment, ”Sladkov wrote.
The publication angered Morozov, who maintains drones and communications systems at the front and has repeatedly written about problems. He wrote an angry rebuke .
“You, citizen Sladkov, you have a connection – shit. And not because there are no radio stations, but because for seven years no one has been engaged in digital radio communications with YOU. They did not train personnel, did not develop standard solutions. And the personnel problem is now much more acute than the issue of the absence of the stations themselves. There are no trained people. Because nobody fucking needed it.
Who is to blame for this? Who is all this blood? Who all this time, while the Armed Forces of Ukraine were preparing for a real war, trained personnel, switched to digital communications, who told the People’s Millionaires of the LPR and DPR that they would not have to fight, that they were for furniture, that, if necessary, the Russian army would come and will do everything. Who, completing a “business trip to the Donbass”, not only went to Russia himself, but also pulled a purchased foreign car on a trailer? Well, it so happened that I saw what it looked like. They take out to the Russian Federation a Russian who commanded in the Donbass, and behind him they pull a mashyka on a trailer. Bought, as you might guess, for the "saved" diesel fuel. And they are bringing new ones, drunk to smithereens, to the point of unconsciousness, even before crossing the border.
These seven years of stagnation, which turned into terrible bloodshed, have names, surnames and military ranks. Or not? Or did it just suck?
You have a shit connection, citizen Sladkov. Because you yourself are shit. They stuck their tongue in the ass once and liked the taste. and for seven years everyone was silent. And then there were stories about how fucking steel helmets and Mosin rifles are.
The lack of digital communication may be the reason why the Ukrainian Armed Forces were able to deliver an accurate strike on the vocational school in Makeevka, where 89 people were killed, according to official Russian data. The military command actually blamed the victims themselves for this, saying that they turned on mobile phones, on the accumulation of which the Ukrainians were able to aim. At the end of December, Andrey Morozov wrote that this happens often, the lack of a normal digital connection is to blame for this – the very one that Sladkov is now lamenting about.
Read also The Insider’s summary of January 4: “ Dozens of Russian soldiers killed in Tokmak, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are preparing a new counteroffensive, Rogozin sent a fragment of a shell to Macron. What's going on at the front ."